Sure, this is a Hollywood feel-good movie, a cleaned up fictional homage by Steven Spielberg to the very real experiences of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, a man who spent 18 years living in a Paris airport, stuck between countries.
I adore this scene, because it helps me to ask myself a few very Stoic questions about my own life:
When was the last time I helped a complete stranger, just for the sake of being kind?
When was the last time I broke the rules to assist someone, instead of breaking someone to follow the rules?
When was the last time I did something that was right, even though it resulted in a greater burden to my own circumstances? When did I show charity so another could get what he needed, at the cost of what I wanted?
"Why are you doing this? Huh? You don't know him. You don't know the rules. Look at me. I was going to help you."
I will hardly spoil the film for anyone, but when the film finally explains why Viktor has tried to visit New York, would I have acted with that same complete dedication to principle and promise?
If I answer these questions poorly, I need a moral tune-up.
"He love that goat."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrTUmYxnNlo
Written in 2/2007
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